We organized a tennis team at Howard Payne for the sole reason of getting invitations to the Athletic Banquet. It worked but the banquet was probably not worth the humiliation of the defeats on the tennis court. Neither of us were very good and the match I remember most was against a high school team and they cleaned our clocks. We also had a pretty firm grip on student government at HPU, Carl in the Senate and me as President of the Senior Class and were able to accomplish a few goals that we were excited about since some had never been done at HPU. Good times as undergraduates and then it was off to Nashville for Graduate school at Vanderbilt and Peabody. Also remember some really competitive 42 games at his parent's home in Bowie.
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I am sorry to hear of Carl's passing. Intended to get a visit to New England for catch-up but never got it done. Carl and I had many good times together at Howard Payne and at Vanderbilt. Even roomed together for a year in Nashville. I visited once in Nashville after I went on to University of Missouri and he was the Best Man in my wedding to Mary Jane in Moore Oklahoma in 1967. His name conjures up many wonderful memories of student life in Brownwood at HPU and of Church at the old First Baptist Church in Nashville. Visited at his home in Bowie and remember some spirited 42 games with his family. I am sorry our only visits were annual Christmas letters and he did send me a collection of his poems several years ago. He will be missed by all who knew him and I offer a quote from somewhere (not sure where I got it but here it is) "Don't cry because he's gone. Smile because of the times we had together and the memories we have from his life." I hope those who loved him know of the wonderful treasure he was.
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2015, Every year Carl would bring our Christmas tree home in his convertible
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2008, Zermatt, Switzerland with Steffi Resnick and Bernie Liberman
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Carl facilitated a small clergy group of which I was a member. He would listen carefully while the conversation flowed around him and then something would strike him and he would look out from under his eyebrows with a gleam in his eye and make an observation that exactly said what needed to be said. Over the years, Carl became a player-coach for us, both being a member of the group and a coach-- kind of like Bill Russell was for the Celtics.
Often Carl would tell stories of his life, seeming to have an unending repertoire of humorous and pointed anecdotes and tales. He told us of playing high school tennis on a tennis court that got the full brunt of the Texas winds. Schools with better teams would come, expecting an easy victory, and find themselves baffled by the gales. Carl said he had learned how to adjust his game to take advantage of the wind, making it work for him, and that enabled him to win matches against more polished players. Rather than fighting against the situation, he navigated through it to attain his goals. He would then look at you to see if he got his meaning, the intensity of his eyes being the exclamation point.
I will miss his wisdom and his kindness, his humor and generosity.
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Rhode Island, USA
California visitors touring Carl’s favorite spots
— with
Bill & Teresa Coby
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2007, Washington, DC
Kai's Adoption Day
— with
Carl and Carlotta with Kai and his new parents Xan and Cheranne
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